As It Happens
by concretya
Summary: Viktor Krum is not a fan of new places and new people. Good thing the Order no longer feels new. Oneshot. Very short, very choppy. Very pointless. TonksKrum.


Viktor Krum walks through the door of the ancient house, his breathing still irregular, his arm still twinging. His shirt is stiff with dry sweat, and his hair is in no better shape. As a man runs towards him from the kitchen, Viktor blinks in the light, and almost takes a step backwards.

"You're alive!" Sirius Black says. "Where are the others?"

"They are coming," Viktor says quietly. "Most of them."

"How many?" Black demands. "How bad was it?"

But Viktor is saved from answering as several more figures burst through the door. Black's attention is immediately pulled from Krum, and he latches on instead to his friend.

"Remus! _What happened?"_

Viktor thinks that Remus Lupin looks as worn as- no, more worn than- himself; but he had found respect for the man in the weeks he had been here in Britain.

_Krum awkwardly follows his guide, a young woman with bright pink hair, down the hallway, a heavy sports bag slung over his shoulders. The house is old, very old, and disheveled; but in some ways, it reminds him of Durmstrang._

_There is only one person in the kitchen, sitting quietly at the table, reading a newspaper. This person looks up immediately, and Viktor finds himself examining a tired man, with graying hair, scarred cheeks, and yet not an old face. _

"_Remus Lupin," the man says. "Welcome to the Order."_

_Later that evening, as they all sit around to dinner, Sirius Black and Molly Weasley begin shouting. The others at the table remain silent, apparently used to this display; but Viktor sitst there awkwardly, unsure if he should be here._

"_Sirius, stop." Remus says finally. "Molly, is this really the right time or place?"_

"_Oh, so now it's all _me," _Molly snaps. "Never mind that _he _is a, an attack dog- never rests, always going at me! And when I've got just as much right as-"_

"_Molly!" Remus interrupts. "Sirius, I think Buckbeak needs feeding."_

"_Oh, so now you're sending me to my room? I thought that was Molly's job," Sirius sneers. But he goes, clattering as noisily as possible up the stairs. Molly Weasley, too, gets up from the table and stalks off, this time into the sitting room, where she presumably begins collecting all the old dirty plates left by errant teenagers _

"_I apologize," Remus says, turning to Krum as soon as the normal babble around the table picks up again._

"_It is all right. I am used to it."_

"_School?" Remus asks cautiously._

"_School," Krum confirms._

All that seems so petty now to Viktor Krum, as Black and Lupin converse quietly in the corner. Alastor Moody is among the returnees; Krum remembers him from that year spent at Hogwarts. "Vere is…?" he begins to ask the tough old Auror; but the Auror anticipates his question.

"Tonks might be coming, might not," he says gruffly. "She was separated while we were coming back." And Moody stomps over to an armchair in the living room, sitting down and staring straight in front of him- even the magical eye motionless.

Viktor is speechless for a moment. Tonks cannot be gone; she is always there, being cheerful and brightening the atmosphere. Or she is there flinging hexes at death eaters, more than ready to jump in and help. She is never gone.

Viktor retreats to the library, but he cannot concentrate on reading even the spines of the rows and rows of books. Nor can he think much about Quidditch.

Viktor hides in the library. Remus Lupin and Sirius Black hide in Buckbeak's room. Mad-Eye Moody does not hide, but continues to wait in the sitting room. Consequently, Mad-Eye Moody is the first to see Tonk's return.

Tonks is exhausted, and grimy; her hair is brown, almost grey with roadside dust. Her jeans are ripped, and her wand has a crack in it.

Moody takes this all in, and affectionately asks, "Did you get him good?"

"Yes," Tonks replies.

"Good."

"Where is everyone else?"

"About." Moody's magical eye whizzes around frantically, staring right through the top of his head, the ceiling, and several walls. "Try the library."

"Right," Tonks says.

When Tonks walks into the library and sees Krum, she is filled with an unexpected burst of happiness. But all she can think to say is- "You're alive!"

"_I _am alive?" Krum asks, jumping to his feet at the sight of her. "_I _vas alvays alive." He feels like that didn't quite come out as he intended; but she seems to understand.

"Yeah," she says. "Sorry. I- I know you were worried."

"Yes," says Viktor, and it all fits together.

They embrace, and their lips meet. Viktor is instantly addicted to the feel of Tonks' body against his.

And when they finally walk back down to join the others, they are holding hands, because Viktor is secretly a romantic, and Nymphadora Tonks is not a secret person.


End file.
